Canadian politics thread

[6793026]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

I'm surprised how well things are going considering Canada post, liquor store, weed store is all closed. I thought these "services" were essential. We should just shut all of them down and get Amazon 4 am delivery to do it.

remember during covid, liquor stores were super important and had to be opened as essential LOL.

Well CP now is doing 'rotational" strike, whatever that means. So we will be getting SOME service back.

[noclue]

I'm pretty negative of public sector unions - seem to believe taxpayers have unlimited money and also protest automation/efficiency. How can you ask for a 19% raise when the company is bleeding money is beyond me.

Canada Post still has the bankruptcy card that can really screw them over as it'll invalidate the collective agreement.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

I'm surprised how well things are going considering Canada post, liquor store, weed store is all closed. I thought these "services" were essential. We should just shut all of them down and get Amazon 4 am delivery to do it.

Things can change around you a lot and seem like they haven’t changed at all when you live in a little bubble and don’t do anything.

[JDMDreams]

Yea I'm not addicted to weed or drinking. Only thing was cp other shippers were a bitch, cuz I had to ship something to the states so I had to drive to pr and just use USPS. All the couriers here has stupid forms and declarations to fill and tariffs to pay.

[BIC_BAWS]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

Only thing was cp other shippers were a bitch, cuz I had to ship something to the states so I had to drive to pr and just use USPS. All the couriers here has stupid forms and declarations to fill and tariffs to pay.

Bruh... this whole sentence is retarded.. coming from a fellow retard.

No fucking shit you didn't have fill out forms and declarations when you DROVE to PR and used USPS - THAT'S CALLED SELF CLEARING.

Imagine using a service, a service that needs to do customs clearance on YOUR BEHALF (ahem this is called a brokerage), and questioning why they need forms (information) to do said CLEARANCE.

This is as stupid as other people saying "OMG THE TARIFFS" on a 0 dollar item (samples) cause in reality they paid for brokerage fees FOR CUSTOMS CLEARING. Fucking idiots.

[JDMDreams]

Not really, previously you just have to state what the item is, clothes, moon cake etc, and how much and purpose, gift, sold it etc, not asking for country of origin, materials, what is made of. How the fuck do I know where the plastic came from. Everything is China, then apparently you pay tariffs even though the item is cusma or we they call it, then they charge again when the receiver gets it.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by noclue

I'm pretty negative of public sector unions - seem to believe taxpayers have unlimited money and also protest automation/efficiency. How can you ask for a 19% raise when the company is bleeding money is beyond me.

Canada Post still has the bankruptcy card that can really screw them over as it'll invalidate the collective agreement.

I tend to look at union job action on a case-by-case basis. There are times when they are only making reasonable demands, and there are times when they are making utterly stupid demands.

The CUPW is absolutely falling into the latter case with their demands right now, because they are just being utterly unreasonable when they refuse to acknowledge how times have changed, that CP's business model (based around letter mail delivery) is no longer sustainable, and how CP is already bankrupt.

With the BCGEU strike, I am far more sympathetic. I recognize that the province is under a lot of debt this year. At the same time, the gov's wage increase offer is not keeping pace with inflation.

I don't know what a good solution would be for the BCGEU. Perhaps some amount of layoffs along with a higher wage increase for rest of the workers? At any rate, I don't think BCGEU is being unreasonable when they are asking for wage demands to keep pace with inflation.

As another example -- the teacher's strike in Alberta right now. I am 100% in support of their job action. Class sizes of 40+ is not a number we should be seeing in Canada. (For BicBaws, that's what Hong Kong used to get when I lived there as a kid.) The Alberta teachers aren't just asking for their own raises; they are also demanding "generational investments" into their education system so that they wouldn't have these super packed classes where the teacher just couldn't give enough attention to the students.
(Plus I am always thrilled when somebody sticks it to Danielle Smith LOL~)

[underscore]

Originally Posted by BIC_BAWS

If you're in a major city (iirc Kelowna) and not some middle of nowhere one road town, Canada Post is usually NOT the cheapest option. I did the cost breakdown the last time they went on strike and showed clear calculation that Canada Post is not the best or cheapest option.

Seeing that Canada Post is on strike, all of the load that CP bears gets moved onto everyone else, thus the temp. price increase on shipping charges.

That said $35 for smt cross border sounds about right.

The base postage rate is higher, but they don't hit me with brokerage fees so the total cost of getting something to my door that's coming from across the border is always cheaper with Canada Post.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Traum

I tend to look at union job action on a case-by-case basis. There are times when they are only making reasonable demands, and there are times when they are making utterly stupid demands.

...

With the BCGEU strike, I am far more sympathetic. I recognize that the province is under a lot of debt this year. At the same time, the gov's wage increase offer is not keeping pace with inflation.

...

I read an interesting take on the province's finances the other day that says the debt problem is not a spending problem but a revenue problem - the province has been cutting taxes (carbon tax being the latest) and is actually one of the lower tax rate provinces around (we have the lowest income tax rates). The data points shared do seem accurate - revenue has been dropping relative to GDP for quite a while.

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-...ending-problem

The most telling statistic: B.C.’s own source revenue — taxes, fees and royalties the province has control over — has plummeted from 19.2 per cent to 15.4 per cent of GDP over 25 years. This 3.8 percentage point drop represents $16.8 billion in foregone revenues annually — enough to eliminate the deficit with money left over for child care, education and other vital investments.

Government spending in 2025-26 is 21.7 per cent of GDP, slightly lower than the 22.1 per cent of GDP we spent in 1998-99. Spending increases under the NDP simply reversed cuts from the previous 16 years. B.C. is spending the same share of our economy as we did a quarter-century ago but collecting far less revenues.

First, deep tax cuts to personal and corporate taxes in the early 2000s were never fully reversed, eroding B.C.’s fiscal capacity even as the economy grew.

Second, ending the carbon tax cost $2.8 billion this year, rising to $3.4 billion in 2027-28. When the carbon tax was introduced in 2008, it was paired with a new low-income tax credit and personal and corporate tax cuts to make it revenue neutral.

When the carbon tax was scrapped in April, the province eliminated only the low-income tax credit but kept the tax cuts, largely benefiting higher earners.

Third, natural resource revenues have declined sharply from 2.5 per cent of GDP in the early 2000s to 0.6 per cent of GDP today — a massive structural shift that demands higher royalty rates, in particular for non-renewable resources.

Critics calling for more tax cuts ignore a basic fact: B.C. is already a very low-tax jurisdiction.

[noclue]

We have lower income taxes cause we make up for it with other taxes. Property transfer taxes, PST on used cars etc. carbon taxes (Hey wasnt it posed to be used for the environment not general use?) and real estate transactions slowing shows how much we've been living off the gravy of excessive taxation to fund our ever growing spending.

We're also in the hole for a lot of capital expenditures which I support (St Paul hospital, patullo bridge, massey tunnel replacement, broadway + langley skytrain etc)

Feel like we're hurling down the path of austerity.

[JDMDreams]

^^ we have more than enough money to just build bike lanes, crack house and that chair on Granville bridge? Which bridge is that shit on?

[BIC_BAWS]

^ thats muni spending - you can blame City of Vancouver for that, not the Province of British Columbia

[68style]

This is just a bizarre story, I can definitely sympathize with youth suicide issues and funding to prevent issues, but you get into the numbers on this it makes zero sense?? They need $3 million dollars a year to crisis counsel a population of 450 odd people to prevent 4 suicides a year (on average — I looked it up)??? The fuck is that money going?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...ans-principle/

[Badhobz]

Administrative costs… and counselling for the counsellors… working those suicide things probably makes me wanna jump off the roof. YAH YOU WANNA JUMP!?!! Me too !!!!

[68style]

I think an investigation would show that Chief is driving around in a loaded to the tits Escalade amongst other things lol

Nevermind the fact if they've been in a state of emergency over this for 15 years.... whatever they're spending that $3M a year on is clearly not working!